lamb

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   give birth to a lamb

   the ewe lambed

2. 2
   noun

   A young sheep.

   Mary had a little lamb, its fleece as white as snow.

3. 3
   noun

   A young goat; a kid.

   The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Exodus 12:5: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:”

4. 4
   noun

   A person who is meek, docile, and easily led.

   Near-synonym: sheep

5. 5
   noun

   Lambskin.

   They were as alike as prisoners, dressed in black silk waists and fitted skirts, with shawls of crimped black lamb across their shoulders.

6. 6
   noun

   A fan of American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer Mariah Carey (born 1969).

   Part of me revels in the campiness of Mariah’s butterfly metaphors and puppies-and-kittens existence. […] But I also genuinely love her music, including this album. I’m one of her lambs.

7. 7
   verb

   To assist (sheep) to give birth.

   The shepherd was up all night, lambing her young ewes.

8. 8
   name

   Jesus; the Lamb of God

   And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Etymology

From Middle English lamb, from Old English lamb, from Proto-West Germanic *lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz, probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₁l̥h₁onbʰos, enlargement of *h₁elh₁én, ultimately from *h₁el-. See also Dutch lam, German Lamm, Bavarian Lamperl, Danish lam, Swedish lamm, Finnish lammas, Scottish Gaelic lon (“elk”), Ancient Greek ἔλαφος (élaphos, “red deer”). More at elk.